Andrew Bird: Put A Bird On It

[caption id="attachment_162644" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Photo by Addie Juell[/caption] Andrew Bird is one of those guys who make you glad God created the telephone tape recorder. Okay, so maybe it was just some wonk at Radio Shack. But see, Bird is witty, eloquent and full of fine little anecdotes. But he speaks so quietly, that without that little machine turned up to ten, this page would look like an interview with Marcel Marceau. Still, Bird has much to quietly crow about. Even with gems such as Break It Yourself and Noble Beast under his belt, his brand new disc, Are You Serious, may just be the best thing this singer-songwriter has ever done. In his modest, wry way, Bird even seems to agree with that assessment. At first listen, Are You Serious sounds like the guy’s most streamlined, straight-ahead album ever. Which would imply it was all just written and laid down on the, uh, fly, right? Well, no. Take the opener, “Capsized,” an atypical track for Andrew Bird in that it’s so righteously funky, boasting a vocal attack that sounds like he’s channeling Bill Withers. Remarkably, this tune went through years of changes before finally arriving at Funkytown. “The way…